Chapter 4 Flashcards
What did BF Skinner criticize modern educators for?
Relying heavily on artificial reinforcement for mastery of classroom topics
What are some disadvantages to using punishment?
- Punishment can in some instances lead to increased aggression.
- Harsh psychological punishment can adversely affect emotional well-being.
- Punishment in the classroom can make students fearful of school and/or their teacher.
- A punished behavior isn’t forgotten and may return
- Extrnisic reinforcment of apersonally enjoyable behavior can undermine the behavior’s intrinsically reinforcing effects.
What does it mean when improving behavior in one context may lead to more frequent behavior problems in another context?
Behavioral contrast
Terminal Behavior
Desired Behavior
Who is the father of operant conditioning?
BF Skinner
Social cognitive theory can best be characterized as being concerned with learning
A. communication skills
B. socially appropriate behaviors
C. through observations of others
D. subject matter in the social sciences (e.g., geography, psychology)
C. through observations of others
Three of the following ideas are integral parts of social cognitive theory. Which one is not?
A. Learning can occur without a change in behavior.
B. People have control over their actions
C. Reinforcement can have an effect not only on the person being reinforced but on other individuals as well.
D. People’s behaviors are always the direct results of the specific environments in which they live.
D. People’s behaviors are always the direct results of the specific environments in which they live.
An early theory of imitation, one proposed by Miller and Dollard in 1941, suggested that individuals:
A. Form mental images of the behaviors they observe
B. Are reinforced for imitative behavior
C. Encode imitated behaviors verbally (i.e., by describing to themselves what they have observed)
D. Find imitation to be an intrinsically reinforcing activity
B. Are reinforced for imitative behavior
A problem with trying to explain modeling solely from a strictly behaviorist perspective is that:
A. Events that are reinforcing for some people are not reinforcing for others.
B. People sometimes don’t imitate a behavior until many days after observing it.
C. Vicariously punished behaviors usually increase, rather than decrease, in frequency.
D. Not all behaviors are imitated.
B. People sometimes don’t imitate a behavior until many days after observing it.
According to social cognitive theorists, reinforcement affects learning because it:
A. Encourages the learner to pay attention
B. Reduces the likelihood of punishment
C. Increases the strength of an S–R connection
D. Makes the learner feel good, thus reducing emotions that interferes with the learning process
A. Encourages the learner to pay attention
Which one of the following statements best illustrates the concept of reciprocal causation?
A. Individuals are more likely to imitate a behavior for which they have seen others reinforced.
B. Modeling can occur only when an individual is capable of performing an observed behavior.
C. People are unlikely to exhibit a behavior that will probably be punished.
D. The environment alters behavior, but behavior alters the environment as well.
D. The environment alters behavior, but behavior alters the environment as well.
Which one of the following alternatives best describes the disinhibition effect that social cognitive theorists describe?
A. People may engage in a previously prohibited behavior if they see someone else being reinforced for that behavior.
B. People are less likely to engage in behaviors they have seen other people punished for.
C. People are less likely to engage in behaviors they have previously been punished for.
D. When people are punished for one behavior, they will tend to refrain from exhibiting that behavior; however, they will be more likely to engage in similar behaviors that are not punished.
A. People may engage in a previously prohibited behavior if they see someone else being reinforced for that behavior.
Bandura proposes that three of the following conditions are necessary for modeling to occur. Which one is not necessary?
A. Motivation to perform the behavior
B. Memory of the observed behavior
C. A relatively stress-free environment
D. Attention to the model
C. A relatively stress-free environment
In what way does the concept self-efficacy differ from such terms as self-concept and self-esteem?
A. Self-efficacy refers only to those behaviors we learn through modeling.
B. Self-efficacy results primarily from vicarious reinforcement and punishment.
C. Self-efficacy varies depending on the specific task to be performed.
D. Self-efficacy appears only after we begin to regulate our own behavior.
C. Self-efficacy varies depending on the specific task to be performed.
Three of the following are examples of self-regulation as social cognitive theorists describe it. Which one is not a good example of self-regulation?
A. A student reminds herself in a whisper that she should raise her hand before speaking in class.
B. A student thinks, “I paid better attention in class today. I’m going to reward myself by watching television when I get home from school.”
C. A student keeps track of the number of times he’s gone to the pencil sharpener in a single day.
D. A student tries hard to earn the reinforcer his teacher has told him he will get for good behavior.
D. A student tries hard to earn the reinforcer his teacher has told him he will get for good behavior.
When are extrinsic reinforcers most likely to undermine intrinsic motivation?
a. initial interest in an activity is high
b. newly offered reinforcers are tangible
c. people know in advance that such reinforcers will be coming
d. simply doing the activity rather than doing it well is reinforced
Behavioral Contrast
When reinforcement or punishment is consistently used in one situation, overall behavior may improve in that situation but decline in others
Effective Strategies for using reinforcement:
- specifiy desired behaviors up front
- Identify consequences that are truly reinforcing for each learner
- Make sure that learners will gain more than they lose by changing their behavior.
- Explicitly describe response-consequence contingencies
- Administer reinforcement consistently
- Gradually shape complex behaviors
- When giving reinforcement publicly, make sure all students have an opportunity to earn it.
- Use objective criteria to monitor progress
- Foster the ability to delay gratification
- Once the terminal beh. is occurring regularly, gradually wean learners off extrinsic reinforcers
Terminal Behavior
The desired end result of behavior
